


rising sun

by zanykingmentality



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, One-sided Aang/Katara (Avatar), Zutara Week 2018, all i write now is fluff, mentions of Aang - Freeform, prompt: first kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 15:32:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanykingmentality/pseuds/zanykingmentality
Summary: Zuko may or may not have a crush.or: Katara is beautiful in the light of dawn.





	rising sun

**Author's Note:**

> it's almost 2am which means I'm a couple hours late but I'm dOING MY BEST OKAY. 
> 
> I took a break from my typical flowery language and metaphors to go with a more straightforward writing style. anyway! it's back with my favorite two! unbetad but spellchecked, so please forgive any lurking errors! enjoy!

It’s been three days, and Katara’sstill laughing at him.

 

There are a million other things Zuko should be worrying about. The comet’s due to fall in a few weeks, which feels simultaneously like it’s months away and _tomorrow;_ Aang still gets paranoid about shooting flames from his fists; and God help him if he can’t get that _annoying_ scene from the play out of his head, the one where actors Zuko and Katara kiss, center stage, for the world to see.

 

But then, it wasn’t really a good play anyway. Totally inaccurate. Aang’s not a woman. Firelord Ozai will not win the war. Toph doesn’t need to scream to see. Katara’s no damsel in distress.

 

Zuko is _not_ secretly in love with her.

 

It was hard enough to convince himself of this when he was grabbing her hand from the back of Appa, when he watched the emotions flit across her face as she looked at him, when she wrapped him into a brief hug. Now she can’t help but grin uncontrollably whenever she sees him, all because―

 

Ugh. It’s still bothering him. He looks at her and all he can think about for a split second is kissing her. That’s all the could think about when he saw it onstage, too, and his face burned red-hot like the fire he bends. Katara had taken one look at him and stifled a giggle, patting him on the back. They could feel Aang’s eyes on them, but neither one of them acknowledged it.

 

It’s morning. Zuko wakes early, with the sun, and heads down to the water. It was always beautiful and soothing whenever he’d come down here with his family, back when they could at least pretend to be happy. He remembers splashing in the water, completely out of his element, smiling. He can’t remember smiling like that since.

 

Katara’s there. Zuko freezes in his tracks out of instinct more than rational thought; what she’s wearing is appropriate for the beach, but Zuko still has to swallow the lump that wedges itself in his throat. The casual onlooker would assume she was dancing, but her feet in the shallow tide and the water rippling and twisting around her face is indicative of her elegant bending.

 

Oh no, she sees him. The water immediately drops back into the sea as she peers over the small cliff. “Zuko?”

 

“Nope. Not Zuko here!” He’s being so childish. But he knows if he indulges himself on this, even just a little bit, he could risk everything he’s grown with her, all the friendship and love he’d learned to accept, and, on the off chance that she reciprocated his feelings, he’d risk her relationship and ties to her family and her home in the South Pole. Zuko was born and bred to be _Firelord,_ after all. There’s not many more things he could do, especially considering how unfit Azula is for the job. It’s not like he doesn’t _want_ to be Firelord! He wants to do anything that will help the Fire Nation get back on its feet and reach a new era of peace. Still… he can only dream right? Well, maybe not in this second though, because Katara’s yelling back to him, huge grin on her face.

 

“Why doesn’t Not Zuko come down here and keep me company?” is her cheeky response. Zuko slides down the cliff and into the sand.

 

“And disturb Master Katara while she bends? Perish the thought,” he says, but he steps closer anyway. Is it just him, or is Katara walking toward him too? It’s too hot out here. The sun’s too bright ― even though its rays are barely poking over the horizon. Katara wears this kind of teasingly sultry smile and Zuko’s heart is beating out of his chest, what is he supposed to do, how does he keep himself from covering the distance between them in a single stride and a tilt of his head? Is he just imagining this?

 

Katara stops close enough for him to feel her breath ghosting across his face. Everything about her is warm; every inch of his bare skin tingles where she could be touching it. Zuko swallows thickly again. “Katara?” he says, more out of a need to say something than anything else.

 

She bursts into laughter and wraps her arms around him in a quick hug.

 

“Hey ― What are you―? That’s not funny!” Zuko complains, his heart racing. He’s almost dizzy.

 

“Sorry,” Katara says. She lets go and flops down into the sand, arms spread out.

 

“Stop laughing,” Zuko says grouchily. They both know he doesn’t really feel that way. He joins her in the sand, sitting upright and watching the waves lap at the shore. “You’ve been laughing a lot since the play.”

 

“Yeah, I guess I have. If I’m too serious about it, though, I’ll probably drive myself insane worrying. You’ve been acting more anxious since then. Is it… about Ozai?”

 

Zuko looks away from her. “Yeah. Mostly.” Katara moves her arms closer to herself, crossing them over her chest. When Zuko chances a glance, her eyes are fixed on the sky.

 

“Aang wants me to… return his feelings. I know I can’t. We’re too different. I can’t give him what he wants.” She shakes her head. “This is a stupid time to be worrying about this kind of stuff, isn’t it?”

 

“A little.” Zuko leans back on the palms of his hands. “But it’s not like being honest right now will help you. He needs to be focused.”

 

“I know.” She sighs and Zuko ignores the way his heart squeezes. Suddenly, she bursts out laughing.

 

“What?” Zuko scowls, but it’s all in good fun. He doesn’t have it in him to be mad at her much now, anyway. “You’ve been laughing at me for _forever_ now!”

 

“It’s just funny,” she says.

 

“ _What_ is?”

 

“You know. This. Us.”

 

“What _about_ us?” This is getting a little tiring.

 

“Sorry, I’m ― I’m being difficult, right?”

 

“A little.”

 

“Sorry. But I mean, you’ve been acting weird since the play too.”

 

Zuko’s expression darkens. “You’re thinking of the scene about you and me.”

 

Katara’s eyes slide lazily over to meet his. “Yeah.” When Zuko doesn’t respond, she continues. “I don’t know. I thought it was funny. But I guess I was scared you interpreted it in like a weird way, and that like, now you can’t be alone with me because it’s weird or something―”

 

“Are you serious?” He doesn’t mean for his question to sound mean. He’s genuinely curious. But Katara seems disheartened anyway. “That’s not… it at all.”

 

“I don’t want to ruin anything between us,” she says simply, and maybe it’s the way she says it, but Zuko’s almost positive if he leaned in now she wouldn’t stop him. He doesn’t, though.

 

“Have you been thinking about it?” He leans forward, arms crossed over his knees, shifting to stare out over the rising sun. “The scene in the play, I mean.”

 

“Obviously.” She sits up next to him.

 

Zuko swallows. Now or never. “Would you be opposed to it?”

 

“Sorry?” The way she looks at him makes him want to either hide under a rock or kiss her.

 

“If ― If I kissed you. Because I like you. Not because of anything else. Just… you know.” He feels so awkward saying that. Saying all of _this_ out loud. He’s never been one to vocalize any of the emotions swirling in his head.

 

Katara is silent for a moment. “No,” she says finally. “I wouldn’t mind.”

 

Then he’s leaning in, watching the curve of her throat, the curl of her untied hair, the gentle skin of her lips. The way her eyes flutter closed when he gets close.

 

Her lips are stock-still against his for a second, and he’s afraid he’s doing something wrong. But then her lips are moving against his, and she’s tilting her head, arms draping over his shoulders, and everything is alright. Right now, they’re not war-hardened defenders of peace. They are two people who like each other, might even love each other, sitting in the sand and letting the waves lap at their toes. Zuko’s fingers card through Katara’s tangled hair. She smells like the sea, like rain, like comfort.

 

They pull away, but only far enough to breathe. Zuko rests his forehead against hers, reveling in the way his heart pounds out of his chest and courses heat through his entire body. Katara grins at him, her eyes searching his. “Should we go wake up the others?”

 

“Nah,” Zuko says. “They can wait.” And he pulls her toward him again.

**Author's Note:**

> did you know? i love them
> 
> catch me on tumblr: zanykingmentality


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